Happy Monday and welcome back to another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. It is I, pastor Rod here with you again to walk through today's chapters. And we have, what, five or six of them? There's a lot here today, but before I get there, I need to remind you of a couple things. First, if you have plans for July 1st. And they're not the prosper pride in the Sky event. I would encourage you to maybe change those and join us July 1st. We have an opportunity to reach our community. Prosper Texas. This is the first time that we'll be doing this event as a church located in Prosper, and we'd love to have you with us. Love your smiling faces. We'd love to have your kids interacting with the kids of the community. And of course, if you stick around, there's gonna be a great firework show. It's one of my favorites. I don't think I have a more favorite firework show that I've been to. Prosper does a pretty good job for being a smaller city in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. They do a pretty phenomenal job at producing a firework show. Now, in fairness, I haven't been to other firework shows. I think this is the only one I've seen while being in Texas, but I'm not disappointed by that. So far it's been pretty great. I. So if you have nothing to do between the hours of five and 10:00 PM on Tuesday, July 1st, there are probably some opportunities for you to still sign up to serve. So if you go to our website, compass ntx.org, you'll see a link there under the events for Prosper Pride in the sky, and you can sign up to serve, sign up to help set up, sign up to help tear down, and maybe there's even room for you to spend time at the booth with us and to interact with people as they walk by and hand them out. We have these branded. Hand sanitizer bottles, and so you can hand those out. People can always use those. Those are helpful and interact with people. This is an opportunity for us to do it. And as I mentioned the last time, the last time I did it, I got volunteered for a memorial, which I was very happy to do. Someone asked for a pastor and then Pastor Peaches like, fantastic, let me direct you to pastor out over here. And then I was talking with this gal and she's like, Hey, I really need a pastor. For a memorial and our current pastor situation isn't gonna work. They were in a church at that point that was undergoing some tumult. And so she asked if I could step in and I was happy to do it. I checked my calendar, made sure it was clear, and I was able to support that. So you never know what can happen at an event like this, and if you show up, maybe you'll get to lead a memorial as well, or not. I don't know. Maybe you'll just get to meet some new people and perhaps get to share the gospel with people. What a great opportunity that would be. We'd love you there. Regardless. We wanna see you there. I won't be there sadly. I will in fact be on vacation starting on Monday. That is today. I will be on vacation with the family in New Braunfels, Texas. We're gonna be at a timeshare that we're borrowing from a family back in California. Thank you so much. Due to Bakers, you guys have always been a blessing and I hope I'll be relaxing with them. Here's my issue. I am doing schoolwork. I mentioned a few podcasts ago that I'm now back at Southern Seminary and I'm pursuing a doctor of ministry. You could pray for that. I, I think this is the right thing at the right time. God has opened the doors and I think this is gonna be good for my church. I. So that's why I'm doing it. You could pray for that and in part and pray for it because I did not manage my time well. Now I am under the gun producing a lot of work before July 1st. I have to turn my stuff in on July one, and that's just part one. And then I have a research paper, do August one. So I have a lot on my plate while I'm on vacation. And you know how that goes, right? You're on vacation, you got work to do. Resting is a lot harder to do. But I wanna be present with my family and my kids. So if you think about me. I would appreciate your prayers. If you think about my family could pray that they are patient with me, as I no doubt have to do some reading and some writing during this time off. Okay. That's enough of the updates. Thank you so much for enduring that time. And now let's jump in. We have a lot of territory to cover, so I'm just gonna tell you now, I can't cover everything as much as I want to. And there's a lot of things in here that I'm thinking, man, that is good. I want to talk about that. But let's just try to keep this as succinct as possible. I don't want this to be a 30 minute podcast. Okay. I told you yesterday that we talk more about PHA and that's what we're gonna do. So starting in se, starting in second Chronicles 19, we have some more ink spilled on Phat Now he's a good king. He gets a thumbs up, Jehoshaphat rules for 25 years, and most of that time you find a highlight reel of his life. And it got me thinking, I want my life to be a highlight reel. I want people to see my life and value it and say, man, that guy did a good job before the Lord. He lived with integrity. He lived with honesty. He didn't ruin his life with some major stumbling, some major sin. I. This is a good thing for us. I know sometimes we frame it in the context of legacy and making sure you leave a legacy for people to admire and follow. And sometimes that can be very man centric and we don't wanna do that. We don't wanna make life about us and our legacy. But there is something good about leaving behind a reputation for faithfulness, for godliness, for integrity. That's a good thing. As, as long as it's focused on the right end, namely the glory of God, then it's perfectly fine to have that in mind as you go about your life. So let's take a look at Joh. First of all, he's approached by Jehu, son of Hana I this year. We've seen him before, and he's basically called out by God for saying, you should not have partnered with Ahab. What are you doing? God is angry at you for this. You should have set your heart to seek God. In fact, you should do that right now. And God identifies in verse three that there is some good found in him and Jehu acknowledges that. And that's exactly what we're gonna see. There's lots of good that happens here. In fact, some of the good happens in verse four through verse seven. He goes from north to south or south to north rather. That's Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim. He goes from south to north in order, get this to bring back the people to the Lord, the God of their fathers. So he's making a circuit. He is king is he's already king. He's not trying to. Petition them to make him king. He is the king and he's saying, look, we need to be faithful to the Lord. And then he appoints judges in the land. City by city. And then he calls the judges not to judge for themselves, not to judge. For men, don't take bribes, don't take any kind of secret funds. He says instead, no, fear the Lord and be careful about what you do. There's no injustice in God, therefore there should be no injustice in you. And so he goes about the land campaigning to say, come back to the Lord. He's acting in a very prophetic way, despite the fact that he's a king. So in a glimmer. We see Christ pictured here just ever so briefly and never so softly. We see an image of Jesus being reflected here in his spiritual reforms. Furthermore, Jeh Apha goes back to Jerusalem. He appoints Levites and priests to be judges over the people to decide disputed cases, using the wisdom of the Lord, and he calls him out to say, deal courageously. May the Lord be with you and be with the upright. This is fantastic. He's on a great campaign trail here. He's installing the right people. He's calling the people to serve the right God. He's moving and he's making great progress, and that's chapter 19. In Chapter 22nd, Chronicles chapter 20, there is a problem on the horizon. In fact, this is the reason why we may. I have reason to believe that Obad was written about this time. So keep that in mind. You're gonna read Obadiah tomorrow, and it's because of chapter 20 that it might fit there. This is one of the potential areas when Obadiah could have been written. It also could have been written much later. In fact, if you're reading from an ESV, they propose that it's far later. But there's a reason that the editors of our Bible reading program put it here, and it's because of this chapter here. So the Moabites, Ammonites and mites, in addition to Edem, are campaigning together against Judah. Verse three, Jeh. Shaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord. And so you have a large conglomerate of forces working against Judah and Jeh. Shaphat is naturally afraid, and so he assembles all Judah together. He prays. He calls a fast, and then he prays publicly and he has this amazing prayer where he calls them and says, Lord, isn't this the people that you drove out? Isn't this what you decreed? And now, Lord, look what they're doing. You promise to be faithful. Verse 12, oh our God, will you not execute judgment on them? We're powerless. And I love this. This is an incredible line. You probably have it highlighted. I. We don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you. I love that. That's so precious, because you're gonna see a reflection of that in Hebrews chapter 12. The idea is s is said slightly differently, but it's the idea of looking to Jesus in Hebrews chapter 12, verse two, let us run the race with endurance, the race that has set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder, and the perfecter of our faith. Now, our hope is not in our ingenuity, in our strength, in our military prowess. Our hope is ultimately in the Lord. Go do the things. Build a savings account, set up the armies, you know, train the horses, fix the chariots, do all those things. But in those things, trust the Lord. We don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you. This is the posture of humility. Even if you have resources, and this is really, this is like coming to the Lord with childlike faith. When Jesus tells us to have childlike faith, he's not telling us to be childish, but to recognize that we are fully dependent upon him. So this is highly commendable. Spirit of the Lord answers his prayers through the words of Jael, the son of Zechariah. And he tells him, don't be afraid. The battle is not yours, but God's, and I love their response here, their response to this is to worship him. They understand exactly what God has said. God's gonna deliver them, and so they worship man. Has God delivered you from something? Has God done something good for you? Look at how these people respond. They fell down before the Lord worshiping the Lord in verse 18. And then in verse 19, the levies Coates and the cites stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel. How did they do that? With a very loud voice. They're not ashamed of their Lord. In fact, they're celebrating His goodness and his faithfulness, and we should do the same anytime God provides. Anytime God delivers, anytime God shows himself faithful, please take the opportunity to worship the Lord. That's such a good thing, and I don't do that enough. I don't know about you. You probably don't do that enough, and therefore we ought to do that. We ought to make it intentional that we worship him for who he is and what he's done. Man, he's so good. He's worth it. Okay? They thank God for the deliverance and so they worship him. In verse 20, Phat, king Phat stands up and says. Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be established. Believe His prophets and you will succeed. He's calling them to biblical fidelity. Trust in the Lord's words, and he will take care of you. That's all you gotta do. And now it's so simple, and yet it's so profound. Trust in what he says. And the Lord will do good to you. And here's the funniest part. I love this part. When they've taken counsel with the people, the people all decided, Hey, let's put the musicians in the front. Okay? Verse 21. Those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy attire. They went before the Army and their job is to sing the Chris Alman song. Give Thanks to the Lord for, he's good. His love endures forever. This is so funny because this is the exact opposite of what you would ordinarily do in any other situation. No one is saying, Hey, who should be on the front lines of the battle? And someone says, how about the musicians? No one's gonna do that because typically musicians are not fit for war. They're fit to play instruments and sing. No offense musicians, I'm one of y'all, but they're not the people that you put on the front lines unless you believe that the battle is the Lord's. And you believe that you're not gonna have to fight. If that's the case, if the musicians aren't having to fight, then great. Throw them in the front lines and let them lead in praise and not in military combat. Praise is a form of combat, but it's spiritual combat and not physical. Verse 22, God honors this when they began to sing and praise the Lord said, an ambush against the men of Amman, Moab, Mount Seer, which is Edam, who had come against Judas so that they were routed and they were confused and they began to devote one another to destruction. It says here, they all helped to destroy one another. The Lord delivers Judah none escaped. They had so much spoils, it took 'em a long time, days to get it all. And so they called that place the Valley of Barakah, which is the Valley of Blessing. They name that location after the victory of the Lord. This is common in the Old Testament. You see this all over When God does something extraordinary, the. Leader of that particular people makes it formal. By announcing that location is now called God is Faithful, something like that. And so in verse 29, the fear of God came on all the kingdoms. Everyone's recognizing that God is fighting for Judah and. as we close out the end of Jehoshaphat's Reign again, most of it, the verdict is that he's righteous. He does good. Verse 33 says, the high places however, were not taken away, and the people had not yet set their hearts upon the God of their fathers. Now, earlier we read that Jehoshaphat did do away with the high places. What we see here is perhaps something akin to Jehoshaphat making a formal statement, an official decree from the throne. And the people saying, yes, most of us will do that, but some of us will not. And so because the people weren't fully behind him, he was leading, but not everybody was following. The high places were not all eradicated in part because of the people. Now, even though that is ultimately held against the king, the people are also culpable for that as well. The end of Jehoshaphat's reign, God notices. We note rather that even though it's near perfect in so many ways, there is contamination in his leadership and that contamination is he joined hands not only with Ahab, but also with ahh Isaiah. And so God has to deal with him by destroying their business partnership. We find out that, Jehoshaphat doesn't seem to quite learn his lesson the first time around. He needs multiple lessons, and that reminds us that even the best of men are still men at best. There's only one king Jesus, who will always be perfect and always do what is right, and therefore, we shouldn't put our full trust in man. We should follow man in so far as that man is faithful to the Lord, but ultimately, we're still going to trust the Lord fully. We're putting our full hope, our full weights in the Lord and not in man. Second Chronicles 21. We're now going to see a change in the guard. In fact, the next 1, 2, 3 liter in Judah are gonna get a firm thumbs down. Sadly, Johor or Jora, as he sometimes called, is gonna be one of them. Even though Jeh leaves his sons with plenty of opportunity, leaves 'em with plenty of resources, he leaves Jehoram in place as king because he's the first born. Verse three says, however, verse four, when Jehoram had ascended to the throne of his father and he was firmly established, he killed all his brothers with the sword and also some of the princes of Israel. So he eliminates all the competition to the throne. And this, of course, is evil in the Lord's sight. He has a, a pretty long reign. I mean, eight years is not a short period of time. That's two presidential terms. But in this reign, it's bad. He's, he, verse six, walked in the way of the kings of Israel as the house of Ahab had done for the daughter of Ahab, was his wife. Now this is the problem. Now recall back in your mind how this takes place. How is it that Horam has the daughter of Ahab as his wife? And you might remember it is actually pha who coordinates this? This is PHAs doing PHA gave. One of Ahab's daughters to his sons, whose name is Atalaya. We're gonna see her in just a chapter, uh, maybe less than that actually. And so now his kingdom is already established to fail because he's walking with fools. He's walking with the unwise. And now we're gonna see the results of that in these days, in his days rather. In verse eight, Edam revolted from the rule of Judah and set up a king of their own. Lna also revolted. You see that the kingdom is fracturing because. It says at the bottom of verse 10, because he had forsaken the Lord, the God of his fathers disobedience will always bring about consequences of disunity. In verse 11 and onward, we find out that Joram Jehoram made high places. Instead of getting rid of them, he's adding more. This gets so bad that a letter comes from Elijah. Now, remember, Elijah's a Northern Kingdom prophet. He, uh, preaches during the time, and he teaches during the time of Ahab. He's responsible for the northern kingdom, but he's so invested in God's people that he sends a letter to the Southern Kingdom to speak to Durham and says, and say, thus, says the Lord. The Lord will bring a great plague on your people, and you yourself will have severe sickness, a disease in your bowels because of his unfaithfulness to the Lord. After a period of time, the Lord does make good on his promise through Elijah, and so he stirs up against Joram, the Philistines, the Arabians, who are near the Ethiopians that says here in verse 16. They go against Judah, they invaded and they carou all the possessions and also his sons and his wives, so that no son was left except Jehovah has. Now Jehovah has, is also known, is also known as Ahaa. this is one that confuses me. Sometimes the names are close enough where you understand, oh, okay. Horri and Jora. That makes sense. Micah Mackay. That makes sense. Sometimes the names are just okay. It seems like a different name to me, but I guess that's the way they did things. So you have a ahaa of their southern kingdom. You also have an ahaa of the Northern Kingdom as well. This gets confusing, which is maybe why they call them Jehovah has, maybe for the sake of distinction. In any case, that's verse 17. He has no son left except Jehovah has also known as Ahaa. Then the Lord struck him in his bowels as he promised through Elijah, and then he eventually died in great agony. Here's something funny, I find here his people made no fire in his honor, like the fires made for his fathers. He was 32 years old and he began to reign. He rained for eight years in Jerusalem and he departed with no one's regret. No one cared that he was gone. No one was upset about it. No one was putting ashes and sackcloth on. They were excited that this guy was out of office, and that's because when there's an evil ruler, the people are relieved. Righteousness gives true and lasting freedom, whereas evil and disobedience will always put an undue burden usually. On the weakest and the most vulnerable, they will receive the greatest burden. But everybody suffers. Everyone's gonna suffer under the weight of evil leadership. And that's what happened. So they buried him in the city of David, but not in the Tomb of the Kings. So he did not receive the highest honor he got at least the honor of being in the city of David. Two Chronicles 22 a Isiah steps to the plate. He's king for one year. You might remember his grandma is Atalaya and she and others from the northern kingdom are his counselors and they are his counselors to his undoing verse force says. And so his kingdom is basically doomed from the start his short reign ends when he meets with one of his relatives. J King Ham in the Northern Kingdom. Jehu, the son of Nishi, kills both Jem and Aha Isaiah, and you're gonna actually read about that in a couple days. In Two Kings, I believe that's chapter eight. And so he has a short reign. It's evil. God does not approve of it. Athaliah steps to the plate. She reigns in Judah because she kills everybody else who could potentially take the throne, except she misses one. Joe Ash, the son of Eiah, but he's hidden by. Jehova, the priest who married the daughter of King Jehoram. And so those two together collaborate to hide him for six years. Second Chronicles 23. In the seventh year, Jehova took courage and he installs him as king. He sets a guard, he protects him. He does everything necessary to ensure that there's a smooth transition of power. They declare him as king. Atalaya cries treason. Je Hoya, the priest says, bring her out of the ranks. Anyone who follows her put them to death. And that's exactly what they do. Je Hoya as the priest makes a covenant between himself and all the people that they should be the Lord's people. Verse 16. And here's the perhaps most surprising part, they respond. Verse 17, all the people went to the house of Baal. They tore it down. His altars and his images, they broke in pieces and get this, they killed Matton, the priest of Baal before the altars. And so the people were responsive and it seems like their eager for righteousness after experiencing a few years of turmoil and evil under Elia's leadership, as well as her grandson, EIAH and Johor, for that matter. Jehova and the people bring the king from the temple into the king's house. They put him on the royal throne. Verse 21, the end of two Chronicles 23. So all the people, the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been put to death with the sword. Wow, we covered a lot of territory and there's so many lessons there that I hope you're able to identify even for yourself. Maybe some of the things that I added to it were things that you already seen or things that you're still noticing that I haven't mentioned yet. That's exactly the right way to read the Bible, and I hope you get lots of that this morning. There's so much more here that we're not talking about for the sake of time, but how about you and I prayed out and we'll close out today's episode of the Daily Bible Podcast. God, we are thankful for these examples of both faithfulness and unfaithfulness. It's so simple, Lord, we need the reminder constantly. When we do good, good things tend to happen. There's no guarantee. There's no pardon from feeling tri tribulation or difficulty or suffering. But generally speaking, Lord, when we do the right thing, the right things tend to happen. Help us to see that our lives have consequences and actions that will reverberate and continue to expand, not only to ourselves and our own lives, but also the people that we love. Especially if we're in leadership positions. Lord, help us to see the strong connection between our lives, our integrity, and the impact on the lives of people around us. And that way, Lord, let us walk circumspectly. Let us be aware of the way that we live and let us live well for your glory. Lord, that's ultimately what we wanna do. We wanna live faithfully, which means if we're living for your glory and honor, we're not just living for your glory and honor one day a week during Sunday service. We're living that way every day. Whether we're in the kitchen, or the gym, or the workplace, or the bathroom, or wherever we are, we wanna honor you. Help us to do that. Give us the grace to live a long life of fruitfulness and faithfulness. Let our lives not be tarnished by sin or disobedience. Help us to live faithfully to you this day and every day forward. We ask all of this in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you so much for joining me. It is my honor and privilege to do this, and I hope you'll join me tomorrow. I'll see you then.

thanks for listening to another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. This is a ministry of Compass Bible Church in north Texas. You can find out more information about ourChurch@compassntx.org. We would love for you to leave a review to rate to share this podcast on whatever platform you happen to be listening on, and we will catch you against tomorrow for another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.